I am on the West Coast on Pacific Time. C-Span has the WHCD scheduled for five hours starting at 3pm. That would be 6pm on the East Coast. It is a little like the Academy Awards Show in that it shows the rich and the famous entering the building and interviews them. I just TiVo it and watch what I want to while fast forwarding through boring parts. Watching it on C-Span saves you from high blood pressure from hearing pundits bash PBO. The only part I hate about C-Span is when they open the lines to call ins that spout Fox News or Limbaugh remarks. When that happens I fast forward.

Don’t feel bad Don – even Martin Bashir had to weigh the WHCD with another very important event… I think he made the right choice because one can always DVR the WHCD!! Plus he has probably attended several of PBO’s performances in the past. 🙂

Oh my hopefruit2.. thanks for this. Coincidence, Mr Hope44 and I just bought tickets this AM to see Audra.
We will be going in 2 weeks however. Saw her perform on Colbert this week and I was just blown away.
This is my Mother’s day gift. Can’t wait. Luckily I’ll be able to see both PBO and Audra. 🙂 🙂 No clash here.

That’s exciting Hope! I wouldn’t mind seeing Audra as Billie Holiday myself. I’ve always said that if a Broadway play of “Obama” ever comes out, I want her to play FLOTUS and Brian Mitchell Stokes to play PBO! But that’s just my fantasy for now; a pipe dream…

Indeed Arapaho415. Wouldn’t that be amazing? I would certainly stop whatever I’m doing to go see that play. Brian and Audra are great Broadway performers and have wonderful chemistry on stage together (see Ragtime)!

Need helpful explanation from someone. Just heard Kerstin Welker (Do NOT like her!) do a report from WH. She said Republicans have introduced a number of jobs bill and want the Senate to vote on those. Hence, they can be critical of the jobs report. Geez….Lawd Almighty. These people have no conscience!!!!!

For the last 3 years, the GOP has *claimed* to have jobs bills but so far, not one of them has actually detailed what’s in those bills or even brought the bills on the floor for a vote. Until Kerstin Walker can tell us what is contained in “a number of jobs bills” that she claims the GOP has introduced, we will continue to dismiss her as simply carrying the GOP’s water and nothing else.

smh/min LOVE POTUS outfits.. ! oh and FLOTUS!! I can say this without a doubt- no way in hell that I’ll ever watch a WHCD after President Obama leaves.. nevah. Never even heard of it until he was elected. But wouldn’t miss him and his comedy act for anything in the world 🙂

“WASHINGTON — The political attack ad that ran recently in Arizona had some familiar hallmarks of the genre, including a greedy villain who hogged sweets for himself and made children cry. But the bad guy, in this case, wasn’t a fat-cat lobbyist or someone’s political opponent.
He was a solar-energy consumer. Solar, once almost universally regarded as a virtuous, if perhaps over-hyped, energy alternative, has now grown big enough to have enemies.”……………

When will these awful people have enough! The Koch brothers and others like them are old and soon to die out. Must they be cruel and greedy to the very end, or do they think that they will live forever?

Chips and hopefruit, thank you both. You have lifted me out of my foul mood caused by emoprogs, Right Wingers an others living in the virtual world called the Devil’s Bubble of Punditry.

The rest of us dwelling in the Actual USA understand that job numbers close to 700,000 in the last 3 months are a Good Thing.
And that The President who causes a happy stir wherever he appears world-wide is a once in a lifetime jewel to be cherished.

Thanks vicki. I saw your earlier post about the NY Times trying to poo-poo the positive jobs report with their usual garbage about PBO’s poll numbers, and simply had to laugh at them. I was planning to respond on the previous thread so I will just say it here. The NYT’s logic is so twisted – I mean what the hell do poll numbers have to do with whether or not a jobs report is good or bad?

And this is yet another example of how the media is now (mis)using “polls” as a weapon against THIS particular President. They throw out “poll numbers” whenever they feel insecure/upset about something good the President has said, done or accomplished – it could be ANYTHING. Polls have now become their security blanket, pacifier, nighttime breast/bottle, painkiller, shield, armor, gun, all tied up in one, in other words a panacea for all the upset they’re feeling just because the very popular and EFFECTIVE President is in the WH.

Araphaho415: we keep missing each other because I usually check in for a short time, post only briefly, then check out. Each time you posted a comment that concerned me, i saw it too late to respond. Thanks for your concern in regard to how we are doing with the rains. My part of NE Fla,, Jacksonville, has had moderate rain and dark skies off and on for the past week, but no heavy flooding or other disaster events like that in Pensacola.
It was also kind of you to remember an earlier comment I made about my voting experiences and how I voted for the first time soon after 18 year olds were granted that right. I retired after teaching for 30 years and recently celebrated my 60th birthday. My gift to myself is a modest interior remodel that has sent me to live part-time in my childhood bedroom which is only about half the size of my current one. Nothing like being around your mom to have 60 seem like 16! Thanks again, for thinking of me and i look forward to talking with you in real time.

Glad that you saw my response too. Even after all these years, I still can’t understand how Nixon won in such a landslide in 1972. After escalating the Vietnam war by incursion in Cambodia, Kent State just two years earlier, etc.

I remember bicycling in inclement weather after dark to vote for McGovern, only to find out afterwards that Nixon had already been declared the victor by a French newspaper, if I recall correctly. I think that’s why networks now wait until the polls close on the west coast before announcing winners.

“When it comes to voters’ knowledge about the deep-pocketed donors who are trying to influence their vote, the 2014 election cycle is on track to be the darkest election in recent history. And that’s saying a lot, as each of the last three elections has shattered dark money records set in the preceding cycle.

……To see the changes in action, just look at Iowa. At the beginning of April, a group called Freedom Partners ran an ad that accused Rep. Bruce Braley, a Democrat, of handing out special favors to donors. The ad claims that Braley “takes tens of thousands from his friends in the health insurance industry” who “stand to make billions” from the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. “Call Bruce Braley,” a masculine voice says in the ad. “Tell him: Stand with Iowa. Stop supporting Obamacare.” As it turns out, the accusations in the ad are false—as in, flaming “pants on fire” false. Braley, who is running for U.S. Senate, campaigned on overhauling health care, and—perhaps as a result—his contributions from the health-care industry amount to a relative pittance.

The organization that targeted Braley, Freedom Partners, is not a PAC or a super PAC. It’s a 501(c)(6) trade association, which, unlike other vehicles for political money, doesn’t have to disclose its donors to the public.”………..

Photos like this give me hope. Look at all of the different hues of the hands holding on to FLOTUS and reaching out to her. This is the future that the Bundys, Sterlings, Wynns, Kochs, Scalias, etc. are trying so hard to stop. Their efforts will be in vain.

Either more intimidation or preparation for attack is the question. Moving that much aircraft effectively to western Crimea would be the tactically appropriate move if one was preparing an invasion.

Google translation:

“”Only a few hours on Saturday afternoon was seen over a dozen MiG-29 fighters and Su-27 , as well as several strategic bombers Tu- 22 m

In the skies over the Crimea , in particular over Simferopol , there is transfer of Russian military aircraft supposedly from the airport to the village Guards Simferopol district to the west coast of the Crimean peninsula .

clip

It should be noted that previously the head of ATC at SBU Lt. Gen. Vasily Kroot said that Russia intends to intensify efforts to destabilize the situation in other regions , not only in the Donbass . “The information that we receive , says that by the foreign state planned sufficiently serious strengthening of their actions on the territory of Ukraine , which are not limited only to the Donetsk and Lugansk regions ,” – he said.

SBU say they are ready for tougher development of the situation : ” We are ready for a different , more stringent operational development of the situation,” said Vasyl Krutov .”

…. just so they know that people all over the planet have near immediate access to what is happening, as long as they have internet access (a vital element of building and sustaining a just and stable world).

Good day shipmates. Today promises to be noteworthy, I think. So let me start with this bit o’ wisdom..Hope y’all enjoy.

Lipstick At School

According to a news report, a certain school in Garden City, MI was recently faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the washroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night, the maintenance man would remove them and the next day, the girls would put them back.

Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. He called all the girls to the washroom and met them there with the maintenance man. He explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night. To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, he asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Surprisingly since then, there have been absolutely NO lip prints on the mirror, whatsoever… not even one!!

THE MORAL OF THIS STORY..There are teachers, and then there are – EDUCATORS.

“Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 288,000, and the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 6.3 percent in April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for February was revised from +197,000 to +222,000, and the change for March was revised from +192,000 to +203,000. With these revisions, employment gains in February and March were 36,000 higher than previously reported.

The headline number was well above expectations of 215,000 payroll jobs added. The first graph shows the job losses from the start of the employment recession, in percentage terms, compared to previous post WWII recessions. The dotted line is ex-Census hiring.

This shows the depth of the recent employment recession – worse than any other post-war recession – and the relatively slow recovery due to the lingering effects of the housing bust and financial crisis. Employment is 0.1% below the pre-recession peak (113 thousand fewer total jobs – almost back). Private employment is now solidly above the pre-recession peak by 406 thousand…..”

Everyone, be careful of manipulated data from news sources, sneaking trying to make dems look bad when it was bushes economy from 200-2009 and more dark money is on the republican side and NOT being reported.

—-> “He just wants the country to fail. To me that’s treason. He’s not saying anything different than what Osama Bin Laden is saying. You might want to look into this, sir, because I think Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker but he was just so strung out on Oxycontin he missed his flight. … Rush Limbaugh, I hope the country fails, I hope his kidneys fail, how about that?”

Are we only allowed to follow 2000 people? I never pay attention to the number, because I often forget to update my ‘following’ tab. Problem is I usually check people’s comments a bit before I follow and I don’t often have the time to do that. Also, I tend to un-follow people who swear a lot, so I’ve never gotten anywhere near that mark.

If you follow 2000 then you need at least 2000 following you. If you don’t you can’t follow anyone new unless you drop people not following you. I followed places that don’t follow back, like the WhiteHouse, FLOTUS, etc. plus some news sites. I guess it’s meant to stop spammers but they know how to work around it anyway. I’m sure I’m following some I can delete. Just need to do it when I can see better. I didn’t start out wanting a lot of followers, it just happened. Especially after I started following TOD. 😉

Aww! Thank Kindly Dear One….This picture chokes me up…especially when I hear the likes of Tavis and Cornell talk about PBO so viciously…I just need to remind folks in twitterland that…even with some imperfections, we Truly have a Good…Good..Good Man.
Love ya Chips….

Tzar Vlad’s attempted replay of Stalin’s expulsion of the indigenous people of Crimea, that Tatars …

“The leader of the Crimean Tatar people Mustafa Jemiliev, speaking to his people, said he was returning to Kyiv. Mustafa Jemiliev urged the audience at the border to behave calmly, to avoid bloodshed. He also noted not to give up and that it’s worth continuing to fight against the current regime. Mustafa Jemiliev also reminded the audience that the basis of the Crimean Tatar national movement has always been non-violence and democratic means.

– “Every person is valuable to us, the life of every person is important. We must not allow bloodshed,” – he said.

Jemiliev also said he would not leave Armiansk [northern Crimea, located on the Isthmus of Perekop] up until the last Crimean Tatar crossed the border into Crimea.

During the rally, Jemiliev also said that he would come to his home in Crimea for two days. After 2 days, he will travel to Vienna, where he will attend the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which will consider the situation in Ukraine, and in particular, the situation of the Crimean Tatar people in Crimea.”

A pattern is perhaps beginning to emerge in how Ukraine’s ATO is shaping it’s efforts against the russian terrorists. Have been noticing, during the past several days, and again today, how various Ukraine and local government facilities are ‘occupied’ by the terrorists with no resistance. Will say more about the implications as events unfold, but for now ‘honey pot’ seems a reasonable speculative analogy.

“According to Information Resistance group’s operational data, terrorist leaders are actively “working” with the local population in the area of the ATO troop concentration (“Yasnaya Polyana” in the city of Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast), encouraging them with money to participate in actions against Ukrainian special forces.”

In the 21st Century, I often question the thought behind the “National Day of Prayer,” but as a liberal and not a zealot, I still think “no harm done” and “some people would never hear moral teachings if they weren’t pointed out to them by others outside their existence” and “each to their own.”

If praying were mandatory and none of our citizens could look or walk away, that would be a different story. [As I like to tell my close friend, since she isn’t sure she believes in God, I think we should be able to choose to believe or not believe, with the free will that God gave us. Hope you caught the liberal tongue-in-cheek there.]

While many things our founding fathers – and later presidents – were absorbed in (I believe and we all know) went against godly teachings, I still always think to myself that acceptance of atheists and all religious groups as equally free to not practice or practice is predicated, at the very least, on acknowledgement of the different beliefs. I’m not against giving people of good conscience a platform, even calling for a non-ecumenical National Day of Prayer, as long as nobody tries forcing their views down our individual throats.

Here’s a little something I think is a classic – and meaningful to the particular religious group in the piece, as well as any of us – about how George Washington handled some of this topic:

President Lincoln also “used” some religious undertones (as teaching points) during his perilous years in the White House, of note:

[regarding the framers of the Declaration of Independence]: These communities, by their representatives in old Independence Hall, said to the whole world of men: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” This was their majestic interpretation of the economy of the Universe. This was their lofty, and wise, and noble understanding of the justice of the Creator to His creatures … Yes, gentlemen, to all His creatures, to the whole great family of man. In their enlightened belief, nothing stamped with the Divine image and likeness was sent into the world to be trodden on, and degraded, and imbruted by its fellows. They grasped not only the whole race of man then living, but they reached forward and seized upon the farthest posterity. They erected a beacon to guide their children and their children’s children, and the countless myriads who should inhabit the earth in other ages. Wise statesmen as they were, they knew the tendency of prosperity to breed tyrants, and so they established these great self-evident truths, that when in the distant future some man, some faction, some interest, should set up the doctrine that none but rich men, or none but white men, were entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, their posterity might look up again to the Declaration of Independence and take courage to renew the battle which their fathers began — so that truth, and justice, and mercy, and all the humane and Christian virtues might not be extinguished from the land; so that no man would hereafter dare to limit and circumscribe the great principles on which the temple of liberty was being built.
[Speech at Lewistown, Illinois, on August 17, 1858]

But Lincoln (who said he was not a member of any Christian church) also grasped:

The Bible says somewhere that we are desperately selfish. I think we would have discovered that fact without the Bible.
[Debate at Alton, Illinois, on October 15, 1858]

It’s really something that young people have better memories than the MSM/Kochs who were adults at the time of the Sept. 11th attack on the United States. Modifying that Maurice Chevalier song, “Thank Heaven for young people.”